Acknowledgement
by orange'n'lavender
Summary: Naruto has never once sparred or fought with Sakura. But he spars everyday with Hinata. But why is Hinata so happy about that? Hinata's POV, one-shot, Naruhina.


_**Greetings, fellow mortals. This is some kind of mutant thought that took over me and forced me to write it... and I'm too lazy to delete it, so...Enjoy!**_

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Naruto has never hit Sakura. It isn't because he is scared of her, nor is it because (as many think) he still has the remnants of his old crush lingering in his heart. It isn't because she is stronger than him, or because he thinks of her as his sister, although I've heard him use these excuses. No, it's because deep down, he doesn't respect her, doesn't acknowledge her as a strong shinobi. Some part of him still thinks of her as the weak female of his team, who needed constant protection, and no matter how many times he has seen her fight, he can't think of her as anything else. (Although with him, almost everyone comes of weak in comparison)

Naruto has fought Ino only once, and that was as a favour to Asuma. Ino realized then that the dead last of the academy was stronger than she would ever be. The fight lasted ten minutes, and Naruto never bothered to use any of his usual, high level techniques – he stuck to using kawarimi and henge, with a couple of kage bunshin thrown in (She glared at him when she realized that she had lost to the dead last of the Academy while he was using basic academy techniques only). But she forgave him when he said that the only reason he dodged so much was because he couldn't let her use her mind control technique on him. After all, he pointed out, rubbing the back of his head cheerfully, who wanted to meet the Nine tailed Fox?

Naruto has awarded Tenten his acknowledgement (and a sort of mild hero-worship) for the simple reason that she was the one who taught him how to fight (and apparently, was the first person to openly acknowledge _him_; something about how they were in the same orphanage, but he never found out her name) when he decided to learn how to use a sword. They soon became close (to the extent that Neji took to glaring at Naruto every time he met Tenten). They sparred on a regular basis, until Tenten declared that she could not teach him anymore, as he had surpassed her in the Art of the Sword. But they remained friends even after that (and after they convinced Neji that they didn't like each other like that).

But Naruto has never acknowledged anyone like he acknowledged me. We spar on a regular basis (when we get time of from our duties as Clan Head and Hokage), and I have improved enough that sometimes, I can beat him. And he doesn't go easy on me either (I have been in the receiving end of more than one low powered Rasengan), and that is enough proof for me that he acknowledges me, respects me, loves me enough to challenge me (and support me in his own way) to become stronger. I know that; it's why I accepted his challenge the first time, why I spar with him whenever I can (and there is the fact that after spars we always go out and eat and I like that) – because he pushes me to strive towards my goals , and as he once said, he loves me because I'm 'strong enough to kick his ass' and because I'm his 'darling, beautiful, sweet Hina-chan'. (Yes, I fainted when he said that. So sue me). Plus, there is no other konoichi that he considers his equal. And that thought is single-handedly responsible for my somewhat random confidence boosts (like the one responsible for the time I went up to my father and told him, quite politely, that I _was _going to be Clan head, my sister was _not _going to receive the Branch seal, Neji _was_ going to help me with clan duties, and the Hyuuga Elders could dress in monkey suits and dance on the roof for all I cared. The look on his face...)

I guess Naruto did something right when he married me (and no, I'm not saying that because I'm hopelessly biased. Really) contrary to the things some people say. After all, marriage is a union of two souls for a lifetime. Sure, love plays an important role (you can't spend your life with someone you hate), but you need respect and understanding too (can you _believe_ I got that line from Naruto? He used it to propose. Sure, he took it from some book… but it's the thought that counts…) Of course, the marriage means my name is _huge_… but that's the thing about marriage. It's all the good things and the bad thins wrapped up with love and tied together with respect, caring… and fluff, and then given to both the participants of the adventure of life together.

This is Mrs Hinata Hyuuga Uzumaki Namikaze, signing off. Sayonara.

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**_I'm not sure what this is… I was bored and taking a break from studying, and this was randomly floating around in my head… so yeah…Reviews are appreciated, thanks. Bye!_**


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